Denver Broncos / NFL

Ronnie Hillman seizes new opportunity after fumbles sent him to bench

Third-year running back Ronnie Hillman keeps a firm grip on the ball while coaches try to knock it loose during Tuesday's drills at Broncos training camp. Hillman has fumbled four times in 140 career carries. (John Leyba, The Denver Post)

Getting his mind back in a productive place was a Ronnie Hillman production, and a Ronnie Hillman production alone.

It had been churning for so long.

"It's a decision he made," Broncos running backs coach Eric Studesville said. "Running backs have to make that decision and understand that it's part of the job doing it. He's done that."

Last season, Hillman was in that space so many athletes find themselves in when routine things suddenly and maddeningly become difficult — making a free throw, getting a pitch to the catcher.

Holding onto the football.

Hillman's fumbles were the biggest reason his 2013 derailed.

His role faded out. He found himself on the inactive list midway through the season. He did not play in any of the Broncos' playoff games. It was as far as he could find himself from when the team drafted him from San Diego State in 2012 with the intention of slotting him in as a permanent part of the Broncos' backfield.

Turns out, he still might be.

"I think what we're seeing is we're seeing him much closer to what we thought his potential was," Studesville said. "The growth always happens as they experience more and they see more, but I think we're seeing him now getting really close, edging up to what we really thought his potential was when we drafted him three years ago."

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The Broncos drafted Montee Ball in 2013, and that put a stop to any thought that Hillman would be the bell cow of the backfield. But this NFL is a multiple-back league. Almost every team has room for an extra set of legs, and the Broncos are no different.

Knowshon Moreno got the majority of the carries last season (241), but even as Ball worked out the kinks of being a rookie in a complicated system, the Broncos found 120 carries for him. Now, Moreno is gone. And Hillman, in his third year, is more well-versed in the system, where he's supposed to be, and when he's supposed to be there.

He was second at running back on the team's first depth chart, and is in line to start Thursday's preseason opener against Seattle with Ball out because of an emergency appendectomy Monday.

"You want to get better every year," Hillman said. "You want to get out here; you want to improve. You never want to hit a plateau. So the better you get, the better chance you have of staying in this league longer."

He's had a good camp thus far.

"You've just got to take advantage of it," Hillman said. "Just come out here and try not to think about that stuff. Just come out here and do what you can and just try to be accountable for the reps that you do get."

Hillman's done just that. And Broncos coach John Fox has noticed.

"I have seen great growth," Fox said. "I think he's been a different guy in the meeting rooms with a full offseason this year and attacking it the way he did. He is starting to see the benefits of that here on the field. I have seen a drastically improved player."

And yet everyone knows that games remain Hillman's ultimate test. He fumbled twice last season, but those don't tell how shaky, and down on himself, Hillman had gotten.

It's the reason those who were around every day last season see such a stark contrast in the first weeks of training camp. It's the reason so many believe he's quickly working himself back on the track the team had originally envisioned for him.

"And the goal is to surpass it," Studesville said. "The goal is to get there and then keep pushing to get better. There's no finite point. We're seeing all of the things that he can do, his ability to catch the ball, his ability to run, his speed in the open field — and then his toughness inside. He's shown that too."

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